"Oh, hello? I haven't heard from you in a while," The woman raised her eyebrows, her voice blearing through the laptop. "Been busy with Peter?"

"No, Michelle. There's been a lot on." Carla sighed, looking at the face of her good friend who'd recently moved her life to Ireland.

She missed her, and couldn't help but dwell on how different things would be if Michelle was still in Weatherfield. Michelle was always protecting her, always by her side. And as women of a similar age, they thought through things the same. Michelle was someone to go to for logical advice. She was more considerate and rational than Carla, and that was just what Carla needed. She could still do it through FaceTime but nothing would beat the real thing.

"We'll now I'm intrigued." Michelle sat forwards, waiting for Carla to continue.

"It's all such a mess." Carla rubbed her forehead, looking down as she tried to contain the tears of stress from the past few days.

"Are you gonna cry? Oh, Car. I'm sure whatever it is, there's an easy solution. Well, unless Peter's cheated again. Because he best start running if so-…"

"No, Michelle. He's not done anything wrong."

"What is it then?"

"It's Tina." Carla exhaled.

"Oh, not that cow," Michelle rolled her eyes. "What's she done this time?"

"You know how I told you how she was trying to seduce Peter? To the point where it was very desperate," At Michelle's nod, Carla continued. "She started bringing my mental health into it. The psychosis. She put a camera in the Rover's smoking area for me to see. Knowing how it'll sound when I complain of a mysterious camera being there. She has been plotting for months, Michelle. Creating all these things to make me look crazy. And everyone believed it."

"You what!" Michelle screeched. "I'm tempted to get the next flight there to knock her out!"

"Trust me, you'll have to get in queue."

"What a vindictive bitch! To use your own challenges against you. She has no idea how hard you fought to get to the point you're at now. That is the lowest of the low." She ranted.

"I know."

"How are you feeling about it all? And Peter? I bet he is absolutely furious."

"Not as much as you'd think. He's telling me to not bother speaking to her and looking for answers as to why she did what she did. And as for me, I am angry. I found her yesterday but it turned nasty so I had to leave." Carla replied.

"That's unlike Peter? He's usually a hot head.You both are."

"I think he's just sick of all the fighting. But I must say, I was expecting him to be angrier."

"Of course you would've been, he really saw everything from when you were ill. So to see this, it should make his blood boil." Michelle said. "I hope you didn't get yourself into too much trouble yesterday."

"No, I just told them how it is. But then Craig came in and told me to leave so that was that."

"Them?"

"Tina and Lucas."

"Lucas? Not Lucas Kempton?"

"The very same."

"No way, what the hell is that animal doing back?" Michelle's eyes widened.

"He's shacked up with Tina. But it's clear they're only together so she can take Peter and he can take me. Don't worry, I've told Peter all about him."

"I should hope so. That man is powerful, don't let him mess you around."

"No, I won't." Carla said, as she heard the key in the flat door. "Oh, that's Peter. I need to tell him about yesterday."

"Alright, babe. Good luck."

"I'll speak to you again, you can tell me all what's happened your end." Carla smiled.

"Hey, love." Peter waved. "I got us a chippy."

"A chippy? Who do you think I am?" She bit her lip.

"I know what you're like, you can't fool me. You love a good chippy and a greasy kebab. Just got to take the designer gear off first."

"Ah, you caught me." She giggled, playfully before going serious again. "Baby, can we talk?"

"I need to dish up the chips first, love. You pick a film."

"No, I just wanna have a chat first." She said, awkwardly.

"But the chips will get cold-…"

"Peter." Carla snapped.

"Okay," He shrugged, warily. Moving to sit on the sofa, he looked at her. "So what is it?"

"It's nothing big but we said no more secrets, didn't we?"

"Get on with it, Car."

"You said not to talk to Tina after I found out. And at first, I agreed but then the more I thought about it, the more I needed to have a word. So I went to the Kabin and got a bit too angry. Craig came in and ordered me to leave." Carla explained.

"Are you serious?" He put his head in his hands. "I've had enough of this. Everything goes back to Tina. Why couldn't you just keep it on the down low?"

"Why are you talking to me as if I'm the bad person in all of this? Are you forgetting that I wouldn't be bringing up Tina all the time if she wasn't dead set on ruining us, Peter. She is going to any lengths to destroy me."

"You're so dramatic-…"

"I beg your pardon," Carla stood up, frowning at him. "What has gotten into you?"

"I'm not saying you've done anything wrong but I'm sick to death of all of this. Couldn't we just have a chippy without it getting mentioned?" He sighed in annoyance.

"Fine." She slumped back into the sofa bluntly, crossing her arms and staring ahead.

"Oh, don't be like that."

"Are you being serious?"

"What?" He frowned.

"Everything I do is annoying you today. I can't win."

"Forget I said anything," He rolled his eyes. "Salt and vinegar?"

"I'm going to the bathroom." She mumbled.

"The T word isn't getting mentioned for the rest of the night." He shouted as she wandered off.

"Tina?" Maria jogged over to the bench outside of Audrey's. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

She gently shook the young woman, and sighed in relief when she groaned and squinted at the morning sunlight.

"What time is it?" She croaked.

"It's seven thirty in the morning, Tina. I've gone to open up the salon. What are you doing out here?"

"I must've passed out." Tina sat up, rubbing her neck in discomfort.

"You must've been pretty wasted."

"Yeah." Tina murmured, "I bet I look a state."

"I'm not going to argue with you there." Maria joked.

"I should get back. Lucas will be worried." Tina stood up, slowly, looking rather unsteady on her feet.

"Look after yourself, yeah? Are you alright?" Maria asked, slightly concerned.

"Me? Yeah, I'll solider on." Tina smiled, weakly. As she began walking away, she started deeply thinking…was she okay?

As Tina walked home, into the place she was currently staying in with Rita, she caught sight of Lucas sat on the sofa. He was watching her, with his arm outstretched, highlighting his watch. He had a look about him, that was making Tina feel quite unsettled.

"Where have you been?" He asked, bluntly.

"What?" She frowned.

"You look horrific and you never came home last night. So I'll ask again, where were you?" He raised his eyebrows, pointedly.

"Don't speak to me like that. I'm not a child." She snapped.

"Really? Because I can tell you've been drinking, where did you stay? I bet you clung onto any man that would have you."

"What's it to you?"

"Well if you're not taking this seriously, Tina, then we have a problem." He warned, scarily low.

"I am taking this seriously." She said, holding in her breath when Lucas stood up and squared up to her.

"Good," He nodded. "Because I'm getting a bit sick of all of these games. I'm bringing forward the plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Carla and Peter," He said with disgust. "Nothing we've done so far is working. It's time for plan B."

"Lucas-…"

"Don't show a guilty conscious now. You want Peter, don't you?"

"Yeah, but-…"

"And I want Carla. We need to do this, don't back out now." He interrupted.

"I just feel like we've gone too far, Lucas. I don't recognise myself." She cried.

"You don't recognise yourself? That's because you started off as a strong woman and now you're passed out on park benches. That's all that's happened here."

At Tina's silence, he continued…

"Now I didn't come here to play about, Tina. I came for one thing and that is Carla. I'm not leaving without her. You agreed to helping me so that's what will happen. Now get out of my sight, you stink."

Tina nodded, her heart rapidly beating in her chest. This was starting to get messy; she began drinking to block out the seeds of doubt in her mind, and Lucas' controlling and frightening behaviour. It was getting too much.

She walked straight out of the house, and that's when she saw Peter.

"Morning, Maria." Carla smiled, sweetly as she stood in Roy's Rolls awaiting her takeaway coffee to start her off for the day.

"Oh Heya," Maria replied. "What a hectic morning! I am in desperate need of a cinnamon bun before my second client arrives."

"One of those days is it?" Carla asked.

"You can say that again," Maria sighed. "Liam was trying to skive off school which already made us run late. And then Audrey decides to tell me that she's unwell and I have to open up the salon. I had to leave Liam at the school gates to make it in time."

"Sounds chaotic." Carla trailed off.

"Tell me about it! Doing all of that without a cinnamon bun or a coffee is an Olympic sport."

"There's your coffee, Carla. Black, no sugar." Roy piped up.

"Cheers, Roy." Carla smiled at the older man.

"I wanted to apologise again for the misunderstanding regarding Tina-…"

"Honestly Roy, there's no need. I know you had your best intentions." Carla cut him off, kindly,

"That is very correct, and very mature for you to see it that way." He nodded.

"Ey," Maria tapped Carla's shoulder as Roy wandered off to take more orders. "What's Roy so sorry about?"

"Oh, it's a long story. A story called Tina McIntyre." Carla rolled her eyes, playfully.

"Oh eye, that just reminded me," Maria's eyes lit up. "To add to my morning on horror, I saw Tina sprawled out on the bench passed out when I got to work this morning."

"To be honest, Maria, what that woman gets up to in her free time is absolutely none of my business."

"I know but she looked in a bad way. I got a bit worried about her actually." She bit her lip.

Carla narrowed her eyes, "Worried for her? Are you serious?"

"It looked like somethings definitely on her mind."

"Yeah. Their probably was," Carla sighed. "What she will do next to take Peter away from me."

"I was only saying, Carla."

"Enjoy your cinnamon bun, Maria." Carla muttered, before strutting away.

Meanwhile, Tina tapped Peter's shoulder and begged for him to speak to her. "Please, Peter. Just let me talk to you."

"No! He yelled, turning around and frowning at her. "Like I want anything to do with you after everything you've caused! You are horrible, Tina."

"I know I've been bad but-…"

"Bad? That's putting it lightly!" He cut her off, cackling.

"Just let me explain. It's about Lucas, I need to tell you something."

"I don't want to hear it! It's probably another one of your mind games. Just stay away from us because next time, I'm getting the police involved." He threatened.

"I regret all of this, Peter. And I need to talk to you about this. It's really important."

"Peter?" Carla called out from across the road, coffee in hand. As she hesitantly walked over, she immediately sensed the hostile atmosphere and the fury that Peter was currently in.

"She won't leave me alone! I've had enough of this." He shouted.

"Please. Both of you, I need talk-…" She begged, tears filling her eyes.

"She's still drunk, Peter. Let's go, come on." She guided him away, looking back at a crying Tina and glaring.

"She just makes me so angry, Carla." Peter breathed out once they'd got into the factory office.

"I know," She nodded. "But getting angry won't solve anything. That's what you were telling me last night."

"We've not spoken since last night."

Carla looked down.

"You left your chips," He added. "I didn't mean to blow up in your face. I'm sorry."

"How many arguments are we going to have about her?" Carla's voice broke.

"No more."

"And how many times have we said that?" She raised her eyebrows.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too," She smiled, weakly. "Maybe we need to get away for a bit."

"I agree, baby."

"Is there anywhere off bounds? Because I feel LA calling for me as we speak." She smirked.

"If it's LA you want, it's LA you'll get."

"Are you for real?" Her eyes lit up.

"Only if you give me a kiss." He smiled as she sat on the desk in front of him and leaned forwards, placing a long kiss onto his lips.

"I'm sorry for leaving you by yourself last night. To you know, eat your chips."

"And pretending to sleep when I checked on you."

"And that." She giggled.

"Good," He kissed her. "How about I arrange some plane tickets for us then, hmm?"

Sorry I haven't updated this in ages! I fell out of love with writing after doing it continuously for a while, plus with starting two new jobs things got hectic. But I have covid now so I thought what else is there to do. This chapter was more of a filler to kick start the next big thing which I've been excited about for ages, so I'm happy it's finally got to this point. I'll try keep up with the updates but I can't promise anything haha. Hope everyone is looking after themselves and had a good Christmas!